Uncompahgre Peak (14,309) by Brian Schultz Sunday July 21, 2002
Jason met me in Lake City yesterday after climbing El Diente. He decided to go in from the Kilpacker Basin after all and verified it as a great way to climb the peak. He also got rained on yesterday. We had a fine meal at Charlie P's to celebrate his upcoming fourteener finish.
We left our Lake City motel at 5:15 and drove 45 minutes to the Nellie Creek trailhead. Uncompahgre is another fourteener I wanted official status on so we walked back down the road about a half mile to start the 3,000 feet gain. When we returned to the truck we chatted with other hikers before finally leaving at 6:58. The day was about as perfect as one could wish for when we started up the trail. We stopped often for small breaks, once to apply sunscreen but mostly to take pictures of the impressive peak. Jason wanted a leisurely outing on his 52nd fourteener so I led for the most part. Leisurely for him still meant faster for me but I felt reasonably strong even after all the peaks I'd done so far and set a decent pace. We stopped and talked to two guys who already summited and told us no one else was above. We made the summit at 9:14 and had it to ourselves before the masses arrived.
Jason was thoroughly enjoying the summit as he bounded along the edges to peer over the long drop-offs. Our hour long summit stay was wonderful and the puffy clouds in the sky created no weather threat. We reluctantly left at 10:18. Just below the cliffs we visited with a couple from Arizona who recognized me from yesterday- they were part of the group taking pictures just before it hailed at the Redcloud saddle. Other than stopping for water breaks we made it back to the trailhead at 11:57. I threw my pack in the truck and told Jason to meet me down the road so I could finish the 3,000 ft. descent also.
When we got back to Lake City a bunch of bicyclists appeared to be overrunning the town. We passed by Poker Alice hoping to have pizza for lunch but the line of people was way out the door so Jason dropped me off at my car and went home. I stuck around for a while, went back to find the crowds gone and enjoyed some great pizza before driving back to Denver and heading for home. Uncompahgre was the easiest of the six fourteeners and eight thirteeners I did on this trip and a fun one to finish up with.
Trailhead to summit- 2 hours 16 minutes
Summit back to trailhead- 1 hour 39 minutes